The U.S. Modified Touring Series in Humboldt this week is paying out more than the $130,000 purse — the four-day extravaganza is providing area race fans with an opportunity to see upper echelon, highly competitive racing in their own backyard.
To no surprise of Humboldt-native and dirt racing enthusiast Howard Penny, race fans from across the Midwest are pouring into southeast Kansas for the USMTS inaugural King of America Modified.
“The modified series is becoming a big thing and it’s really a big race with as much money as they have coming into it,” he said. “This is $15,000 (to win the feature), big money in dirt racing.”
Penny, now living in Marion, has made a habit of watching dirt track racing for almost five decades, and he still gets excited about races like the ones starting tonight at the Humboldt Speedway.
“There’s a certain beauty to watching someone control a highly powered automobile faster than somebody else can,” he said.
Iolan Barbara Wille shares Penny’s passion for racing, but it’s as much about the atmosphere of the race track as it is about the race itself, she said.
“There’s going to be all sorts of events each of the four days and you get to see people you don’t always get to see,” she said. “People aren’t always able to come to Humboldt every Friday night but they come for the special ones.”
Camp sites are available for travelers.
Wille said she considers it an honor for her home race track to host such a high profile event as well as the USMTS’s drivers. The local drivers racing throughout the four days of competition should consider themselves lucky as well, she added.
“To have it in Humboldt, Kansas, a little track, is just awesome,” Wille said. “Having the top notch drivers coming to Humboldt and having our local drivers racing with them, it gives them the experience of racing with the big boys.”
Playing host to the modified series makes it a little easier for die hard race fans to get their fix — maybe even a heavier dose.
“We made the trip to Minnesota for their big three-day race last month,” Wille said. “And I think Humboldt’s is going to be bigger and better.”
She might be right. Penny said of the hundreds of races he’s been to over the years, a $130,000 purse is among the largest payouts he’s seen. And when the prize money reaches that level, Penny, 72, said the fast cars follow.
“People don’t know how lucky they are. That’s a lot of money for a little town in Kansas,” he said. “They’re going to see some of the best drivers in the country and the Midwest, and we’re going to see some guys that can just flat fly. This is where dirt track is the strongest.”
A longtime regular at Humboldt Speedway, Wille said she couldn’t be more excited to be among what she expects to be capacity crowds.
“I bought my tickets for all four days ahead of time. I just can’t wait to sit there Saturday night and watch them start three-wide. It’s going to be great,” she said.
